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Flexor M

Well, it's some strange stuff. It has some particular characteristics that make the material good for long shafts and spindles that are under a great deal of stress so that they won't break. As the name implies, this material flexes a great deal. Someone that has never turned Flexor M may be in for a big surprise the first time they run it. I have run a lot of Flexor M over the years, especially long, slender spindles.

Here are some of the machining characteristics:

Does NOT drill easily. It's tough on high speed steel.

Does NOT tap easily. In most cases, you'll be lucky to tap just a few holes with a new tap.

Does NOT break a chip easily. You'll have to play with speeds and feeds here a lot.

Does NOT like to be turned between centers. This is most important. As you turn your part, you will notice that your live center will be wobbling all over the place. This is because your part has just bent like a banana. I actually had my best luck roughing parts out, no matter how long, unsupported without a center, leaving no more than a 1/16" for a finish pass, then turn between centers, keeping the part cool at all times.

If you have to straighten Flexor M, you will find that you have to push the material a ton, just to get it to bend a few thousandths. We bent 2" shafts to the point where you could see more than a 1/2" of bend in them, only to get maybe a thou or so out of them when they bent back.

All in all, Flexor M isn't much fun.



Frank



www.randolphmach.com
 
Hmmmm.....

That wasn't my experience....

I have only made one part out of it so far, but I did it 400 times.

I went with non-straitened material and cut to part length rather than barfeed. This stock has a lot of warp to it. Would straitening have induced stresses?

I was between centers @ 8X.

I don't recall ever changing the HSS C-drill?

Cross drilled with small drill (1/8"?) and probably needed 2 or maybe 3 drills total.

I didn't have eny chip issues.

Had to watch for threading insert chipping, but a diff grade may have solved that.

Material was 41Rc. I was pulling down 15-25 Ra finishes with a Scotchbrite pad knocking it down quickly to 12-16.

My app was CNC.



--------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 








 
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